It appears as though this law is about to change in Missouri.  The Missouri General Assembly has sent a bill to the governor that would repeal the helmet requirements for some motorcycle riders.  Helmets would still be required for riders under 21 years of age or those using the interstate highway system.  The law would also sunset on August 28, 2014.  Motorcycle groups have been applauding the measure that joins 27 other states with only partial laws regarding helmets.

Studies on motorcycle fatalities in relationship to helmets are interesting.  Three states were cited as references in a recent newspaper article from the Kansas City Star.  In 1997, Texas and Arkansas repealed motorcycle helmets for riders 21 years or older.  The first full year after the repeal, motorcycle deaths increased by 21% in Arkansas.  They increased by 31% in Texas.  A similar change to the law in Florida saw a 71% increase in fatalities in the two years after the helmet law was changed.

If medical expenses result from an injury within the insured vehicle, the insurance carrier will pay up to the coverage limits for all treatment.  Oftentimes this payment is in addition to other overlapping insurance coverages that might apply.  Let me give you an example of the practical benefits of this type of coverage.

“Lisa” was driving her insured truck when it was negligently rear-ended by an individual that had been drinking.  Lisa was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she received several thousand dollars worth of treatment and released.  She had a significant neck injury and followed up with an orthopedic doctor and had many weeks of physical therapy.

The hospital bills and subsequent treatment were submitted to Lisa’s individual health insurance policy.  These medical bills were all paid by this private insurance.  In addition to that benefit, a claim was made against the at-fault driver’s insurance company for Lisa’s damages.  A settlement was entered into with that company for all harms experienced by Lisa including compensation for the medical bills which had been paid by Lisa’s private health insurance company.

In addition to these claims, Lisa also made a claim against her own automobile insurance company under the medical payments coverage provision of her policy.  The medical bills were submitted to her automobile insurance company and, despite the fact that she received compensation for these bills through overlapping insurance, she was able to obtain payment from her automobile insurance carrier directly to her for these bills.  From a practical standpoint this helped her cover deductibles and co-payments that applied to her health insurance and represented compensation for the perceived inadequacies of the liability coverage settlement.

Lisa had paid premiums for all of these coverages and used them to her advantage in order to fully compensate her for her injuries resulting from the automobile wreck.  Don’t make the mistake of purchasing coverages that overlap and then failing to initiate claims to utilize these policy provisions.  Allow your insurance to work to your advantage.  If you have any questions regarding medical payments coverages or any other type of accident related issues, please feel free to give me a call and I will be happy to discuss them with you at no obligation to you.

Obviously, the individual that caused the accident is required under State laws to maintain a certain amount of liability insurance coverage.  The reality is that these minimum coverages often do not come close to covering the amount of damages caused by most automobile accidents.  This places the victims of negligent drivers at severe risk of not being fully compensated for their injuries.

Many times, I have to explain to an individual with a serious injury that the driver that hit them had inadequate insurance coverage to fully compensate them for their harms.  While the at-fault driver can be pursued personally for any damages beyond the liability insurance coverages, the collectibility of judgments in excess of insurance coverage is usually low.  Oftentimes, the cost of collections will outweigh the likelihood of success in finding other assets to satisfy these judgments.

There is an alternative available for every person to consider in order to avoid these gaps in coverages.  Each person has the opportunity to purchase underinsured motorist coverage when purchasing their mandatory liability and uninsured motorist coverage.  Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has failed to comply with the State minimums for liability coverage.  If the at-fault driver has met the minimums but has insufficient limits to fully compensate the victim, the optional underinsured motorist coverage is available.

When an individual goes to purchase their own auto coverage, many insurance agents and companies don’t explain underinsured motorist coverage and oftentimes do not tout the virtues of this critical gap coverage.  Many people think that they have “full coverage” when they are, in reality, inadequately insured.  Explaining to most insurance agents that you would like “full coverage” often leaves underinsured motorist coverage unpurchased.  In my experience, most people do not carry underinsured motorist coverage because they do not understand the nature of this coverage and its benefits.  What is more sad is that it is relatively inexpensive to purchase this type of coverage.

If this coverage is vital and inexpensive, why don’t insurance agents and companies convince people to purchase this type of coverage.  The answer is because underinsured motorist coverage is not profitable for agents and companies.  Furthermore, because companies do not encourage their agents to sell this coverage, a lot of agents don’t understand the benefits of such coverage and, therefore, do not relay this information on to their clients.

Some States do include mandatory underinsured motorist coverage as a part of the State minimum requirements.  Unfortunately, the mandatory limits are similar to the liability coverage limits which are equally inadequate.

Pull out your policy and see if you have purchased underinsured motorist coverage.  If you have not, I would encourage you to contact your insurance agent and discuss this critical option.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you have “full coverage” when you are exposing yourself to potential hardship when someone injures you and has insufficient insurance coverages.

If you have been involved in an accident and have made a liability claim against the at-fault driver, but suspect that your injuries and damages may exceed that coverage, you should contact our firm immediately to discuss whether there are other types of insurance coverage that might be available to you.

An attorney in our office recently took a call from a lady who had been involved in a head-on collision.  Her young daughter was in a car seat behind her driver’s seat.  The young child received head injuries when she impacted the front seat headrest.  It was originally assumed that the child must not have been in a car seat.  According to the mother, she was in an appropriate car seat but it may not have been properly secured with the vehicle seatbelt system.

Those of us that have children know how difficult it can be to properly attach child seats and booster seats to vehicle seats.  At times it seems like an exercise of nailing jello to the wall.  This is due, in large part, to poorly designed car seats and poorly designed vehicle seatbelt systems.  Hopefully, that is going to continue to improve.  Fortunately, automobile manufacturers are continuing to upgrade their passenger restraint systems, including upgrades for child seats.  Nevertheless, parents must be vigilant in this area.

Two recent articles in Trial Magazine offered by Stuart Ollanik and Paul Komyatte illustrate some excellent recommendations for parents in protecting their children within motor vehicles (Making Cars Safe for Kids by Stuart Ollanik, Trial Magazine November 2008, and Making Sure Child-Restraint Seats Protect by Paul Komyatte, Trial Magazine November 2008).  Some of the information gleaned from these articles in the form of advice for parents is as follows:

1.  Forward facing children in car seats oftentimes suffer injuries which could have been prevented if the infant seat was rear facing.  Facing children to the rear for as long as possible is the safest approach.

2.  Rear facing infant car seats with bases buckled into the car seats with a detachable infant carrier are not reliable and often break off at the base during impacts.  While these seats are convenient, they are not as sturdy as non-detachable carriers.

3.  Many car manufacturers are now utilizing anchors and tethers within the seat system to allow attachment of child seats.  These anchors are superior attachments devices and should be utilized, if available.  Packages can also be purchased to retrofit your car seat with these anchors.

4.  State laws throughout our country are in place to set forth child seat requirements.  In our home state of Missouri, our law requires children less than four years of age regardless of weight to be secured in a child passenger restraint system appropriate for that child.  Children weighing at least 40 pounds, but less than 80 pounds and who are also less than 4′ 9” tall shall be secured in a passenger restraint system or booster seat appropriate for that child.  Parents violating this law subject themselves to a citation.  The provisions of that law do not apply to any public carrier for hire or school buses.

5.  Integrated child seats within vehicles in most cases provide the best solution to the problem of child seats properly fitting in cars and fitting the child appropriately.  Unfortunately, these systems are not widely available in all makes and models of vehicles.

6.  Regarding booster seats, properly fitting lap belts and shoulder harness restraints are critical.  Shoulder harnesses improperly fitting across a child’s neck can cause severe injury.  The solution is not to take the shoulder harness and put it behind a child.  Studies have shown that this causes the potential for serious injury to the child’s pelvis and abdomen when only restrained by lap belt in a wreck.

7.  Be very careful how cargo is transported behind children. An item of cargo can cause a rear seat to collapse onto children in front-end collisions. Cargo may also cause injury to passengers by going airborne in a wreck. All items must be secured in a vehicle.

The problem of making our children safer in our vehicles is a challenge.  It involves parents taking the time to educate themselves regarding the most appropriate products for their child and vehicle, and also investigating the proper method of attaching the seat or booster to the vehicle.  In addition, manufacturers of restraint products and vehicles must contemplate the design of these systems to better protect our children during crashes.

If you have any questions about child restraint systems, air bag systems, or any other automobile related issues, contact Phil Holloway for a free consultation.

The defendant claimed that she had a green turn arrow and alleged that the motorcyclist was at fault for failing to yield.

There were considerable differences between the testimony of numerous witnesses that were present when the accident occurred.  This case demonstrates the critical need to immediately investigate these types of accidents, and take witness statements as soon as possible.

The case further illustrates the application of comparative fault in the State of Missouri.  The jury awarded 65% of the fault to the defendant and 35% of the fault to the motorcyclist.  This reduces the net verdict for plaintiff’s damages to $487,500.00

If you are in an accident, do not delay in contacting our law firm so that a complete and thorough investigation can be initiated immediately.  The success of your personal injury claim may depend upon how quickly an investigation commences in order to preserve evidence and testimony.

Motorcycle crash tests with an airbag were first performed in 1973.  Twenty years later, follow-up tests showed that airbags could reduce a rider’s velocity and trajectory in frontal collisions, which make up 62% of motorcycle accidents in the United States.

Honda Motor Company rolled out its first production motorcycle airbag system in 2006 available on its Goldwing motorcycles.  The system utilized fuel tank mounted airbags which deploy when four crash sensors mounted on the front fork measure the necessary change in acceleration caused by a frontal impact.  The design was intended to prevent the motorcycle rider from traveling forward into the impact vehicle.  The airbag’s purpose is to absorb some of the forward energy of the rider and reduce the velocity at which a rider might be thrown from the motorcycle.  According to Honda, the demand for this safety feature continues to increase and grow in popularity.  Other manufacturers are attempting to add airbag technology as an option on certain models.

Also growing in popularity is personal protective equipment for motorcyclists.  This equipment has always included helmets, gloves, jackets, pants, and boots, but now new technology is expanding into this area as well.  Motorcycle airbag jackets are being designed and marketed as another potential piece of equipment to provide better overall safety to the rider.  The jackets include compressed carbon dioxide cylinders for inflation purposes, along with breakaway devices to trigger the system when a rider is ejected from the bike.  As technology and design advances, there may be a day when these airbag features could be added to any type of motorcycle jacket.  Companies are already marketing these jackets for sale.

As technology improves and we become more safety conscience in this country, views towards these features may change.  What we thought was safe in 1967 has dramatically changed 30 years later.  Perhaps motorcycle airbags will make a similar journey in the public’s consciousness.

If you have been involved in a motorcycle accident and would like to discuss your legal options, please give us a call.

Experienced motorcycle operators always assume that they are invisible to other motorists.  Avoiding the blind spot to the left and right rear of any vehicle may be the difference between life or death for a motorcycle operator.  In addition, there are a number of other actions that can be taken by operators of motorcycles to increase their ability to be seen.  Brightly colored clothing with reflective material, a light colored helmet, and illuminated headlights increase rider visibility to other motorists in any lighting condition, but especially at night.  A recent New Zealand study confirmed that wearing conspicuous attire does affect the risk of having an accident.  Wearing fluorescent clothing reduces the risk of a crash injury by 37%, wearing a white helmet by 24%, and riding with headlights illuminated by 27%.

Despite these attempts to be seen by responsible and experienced motorcycle operators, other motorists continue to cause accidents by pulling out in front of motorcycles.  Human factor experts have provided testimony in motorcycle accident cases regarding the at-fault driver’s contention that they “didn’t see” a motorcycle coming toward them in the opposite lane.  These experts discussed the phenomenon of an object traveling directly towards an observer, which is more difficult to see, as it is not crossing the observer’s field of vision.  Another interesting experiment is to attempt to judge the speed of an object coming directly toward you.  This can be extremely difficult to do against a stationary background.  Motorists not using the highest degree of care will often turn in front of motorcycles claiming that they thought they had enough time to complete the turn.

This exact scenario was dealt with by our law firm in a recent motorcycle accident.  “Steve” was on his way to work one morning on a flat undivided highway with the rising sun to his back.  A car operator turned left right in front of Steve leaving him no time to react in order to avoid the collision.  The car operator provided the typical line…”I never saw him coming until it was too late.”  Steve’s training and experience in proper crash avoidance techniques allowed him to survive this accident.  He was a recent graduate from the Experienced Riders Course of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF).  As a part of the course, emergency techniques such as maximum brake stops and avoiding obstacles in the road were taught and practiced.  Steve credits this course with providing him the necessary techniques to avoid substantial injury or death.

The collision was not avoidable.  Steve severely fractured his left elbow with associated tendon ruptures of his left arm.  He underwent immediate surgery to repair these injuries requiring internal fixation and tendon rupture repair.  Adding insult to injury, the insurance carrier for the at-fault driver attempted to place a significant share of the fault on Steve for his “failing to avoid the accident” and “excessive speed”.  Both allegations were without any factual basis.  Shortly after our firm was hired, the insurance carrier agreed to settle for the maximum amount of money available from the at-fault driver’s policy.

Motorcycle operators can employ various strategies to decrease the risk of being injured in an accident.  These strategies include relatively inexpensive measures such as adding light sources to your bike and the use of light, bright, reflective, or fluorescent colors.  Also, an understanding of your positioning in relationship to other motor vehicles may save your life or prevent serious injuries.

While responsible or experienced motorcycle operators can answer the questions by responding, “I want to be seen!”  Other motorists still have a responsibility to share the road with motorcycles.

7. Seventh, in pursuing a personal injury or wrongful death claim against a trucking company or truck driver, it is important to get experts on your behalf involved early on, including attorneys, trucking experts and accident investigators.  Trucking companies and their insurers are very good at hiring investigators immediately to photograph the scene and vehicles, and obtain witness statements and take other action in an effort to redirect the fault for the trucking accident to other persons or parties.  This is why it is important that you hire the right people to investigate and support your side of the story.  Waiting days and weeks or longer to get the right people involved could mean the difference between success and failure in your case against the trucking company or truck driver.  This is why it is important you hire the right people early on.  Our law firm handles these cases and can be reached through our website www.truckaccidentlegalcenter.com or our toll free number (800) 943-4529.

Sixth, it is important that all medical care for injured parties in the truck accident should be carefully documented.  Photographs and videos of injuries and medical conditions need to be taken, not only at the beginning, but at regular time intervals throughout the medical care time.  Photographs and videos taken in the hospital setting as well as therapy can be very important in supporting the personal injury claim.

In addition, recording the progression of injury and medical conditions through diaries and other documentation to record the times, complaints and changes in condition can be very helpful in the personal injury claim.

Maintaining all medical bills and receipts, including prescription receipts, help to support the personal injury claim against the trucking company or truck driver.  Documenting lost time from work or other planned activities that were lost due to the truck accident should be maintained.

For more information on what documentation needs to be created and maintained, you can contact our lawfirm through our website www.truckaccidentlegalcenter.com or our toll free number (800) 943-4529.